Three descriptive essays and numerous fascinating photographs, taken especially for this volume, allow the reader to experience a major monument of Indian art: the sixth-century temple cave on Elephanta Island, in Bombay harbor, and its extraordinary stone sculptures. The authors and the photographer capture the atmosphere of the cave and the spirit of the sculptures, which portray the relentless energy and paradoxical power of Shiva, greatest of all Hindu Gods. The photographs are particularly successful in revealing the dramatic alternation of light and dark that is so much a part of the beauty of the cave’s interior. Ms. Berkson’s trained and loving eye picks out the subtleties of the main sculptures and humorous details that the visitor might miss even on the site. In the text Wendy O’Flaherty interprets the myths of Shiva depicted in the sculpture; Ms. Berkson’s essay supplies historical background and a stylistic analysis; and George Michell examines the overall structure of the cave to show that it is a mandala-like image of the heavenly mountain residence of Shiva and even of the structure of the universe itself.
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